The 'Jaws of Life' Phase Three - Cha Am Golf Club to the Rescue

[Jonathan Fairfield]

The 'Jaws of Life' Phase Three - Cha Am Golf Club to the Rescue

Phase One:In the December 2013 edition of Hua Hin & Cha-Am Today we reported on the Cha-Am Highway Police Rescue. At the time a priority identified by the coordinator of the Cha-Am Region, Mr Somyot or Khun Gie,was for the acquisition of the ‘Jaws of Life’. These arespecialised hydraulic rescue toolsprimarily used to assist extricate crash victims trapped in motor vehicles, as well as other rescues from small spaces. The tools include cutters, spreaders, door busters and rams.

Phase Two: In the January Edition we reported the good news that a complete set of these tools was then in the hands of the Cha-Am Police Rescue. Funding for this purchase was obtained from three individual sponsors. One of the sponsors was a Cha-Am building company which wished to remain anonymous, one was a personal donation from Khun Prai (the Petchaburi Provincial Administrative Officer) and the third generous sponsor was Khun Gie himself.

Although the ‘jaws of life’ where then in working order, Khun Gie was eager to replace the hydraulic hoses which were at the end of their working life.

Phase Three: In this edition of Cha-Am & Hua Hin Today we can report on the final phase of this project.

A ‘just in time’ sponsor has provided the necessary funding for the repairs necessary to make the equipment reliable and fully functional. By ‘just in time’, we mean that replacement of the hoses for the equipment had become a matter of urgency as equipment failure, which could have had dire consequences in a rescue operation, had already occurred.

On 13th February, Members of the Management Committee of the Cha-Am Golf Club travelled with Rescue staff to a Tha Yang workshop to watch as the equipment was restored to ‘good as new’. The Club had agreed to provide sponsorship from its Charity Fund and handed over a payment of 19,000 THB to the repair shop for the work and materials.

Club President, Paul Graff, said that the sponsorship had been agreed to by Club Members at the January Annual General Meeting. He believes that this sponsorship is a real example of the community working together to provide a very practical asset to benefit and even save the lives of anyone in an emergency situation.

Who knows; perhaps one day a Club Member or another golfer may be involved in a vehicle crash travelling to or from a golf course and be thankful for the services that the Highway Rescue Police volunteers provide?

Our thanks to Members of the Cha-Am Golf Club for this generous donation!

-- Hua Hin Today 2014-03-03